The
UCC “reformer” is like the blind man at Bethsaida. After Jesus had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him,
He asked, “Do you see anything?” The man looked up and answered, “I see people. They look like trees walking
around” (Mark 8:23-24). UCC
reformers are not suffering from the full blindness manifest among most of
their denomination, but their sight falls well short of those who saw the
denomination for what it is and left.
Is the United Church reformer unable to see the big picture or unwilling
to accept that the once orthodox and thriving denomination (pre-1960s) has been
hijacked and is now irreversibly flying into a thunderstorm of liberal
pro-homosexual heresies? It is sad to
see that this denomination has been on a liberalized pro-homosexual flight
path, without deviation for decades, and yet professed evangelicals still keep
going along for the ride and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) keeps
waving them on, even after both acknowledge the intended route and
destination. The EFC policy to not have
an official position or policy on relations with the United Church is
unfortunate.[i] The EFC has in fact encouraged the status quo witness of evangelicals
within the UCC by allowing the National Alliance of Covenanting Congregations
(NACC) to remain members of both the UCC and EFC in spite of a longstanding
dearth of reform evidence within the United Church.

In 2005, the Alberta
Association of Covenanting Congregations said on their website:
.

We are a group of people and
congregations who love the United Church of Canada with all its diversity. We wish to stay in the church while
upholding traditional Christian values, theology and morals.[ii]

An
ad, posted by the National Alliance of Covenanting Congregations, in the United
Church Observer reads: “ROOTED IN THE
FAITH! RELEVANT TO THE TIMES!” The NACC
offers as its purpose:

To help a congregation make a public
statement of beliefs affirmed by the majority of its members, and so hold its
people together within the United Church of Canada with integrity.

Imagine
coming before God in corporate prayer acknowledging only a majority are in
obedience. Does the righteousness of
the majority give Christian integrity
to the apostate minority? Does the
righteousness of the NACC (or COC) give Christian integrity to the UCC? The
NACC web site states under “WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS”: “the NACC offers a way to remain in the United Church of Canada with a
clear conscience and hope for the future.”[iii] Ironically, in the UCC there are both
“counterfeit Christian” congregations and what can best be labeled “counterfeit
United Church” congregations. The
characteristics of a counterfeit United Church congregation (not all are NACC)
are: little communication or association with UCC Head office, psychological
detachment from the denomination, denial of ownership or responsibility for
national church theology and policies, acceptance that periodically voicing
contention with denominational heresies is sufficient witness for Christ, and a
constrained public witness against their Church. What is meant by constrained is that verbal friction with the
direction the denomination has taken is never allowed to reach the breaking
point of civil unrest i.e. picketing the Toronto national office, refusing to
financially support the denomination or leaving. For these counterfeit United Church congregations, UCC unity has
become a sacred cow, separation a sacrilege.
They do not see that their presence in the UCC compromises their witness
and also misleads the uninformed onlooker who assumes “denomination” means
something. Paul in his first letter to
the Church at Corinth confirmed that schisms are a purifying process:

No doubt there have to be differences
among you to show which of you have God’s approval (1 Corinthians 11:19). [
NIV Study Bible footnote: As deplorable as factions may be, they serve
one good purpose: they distinguish those who are faithfuland true in God’s sight.]

In
a letter to Members of Parliament, to undo the intent of their Moderator’s
January 17, 2005 communication, (asking MPs to a breakfast and lobbing them for
a pro-same-sex marriage vote), the Chairman of the NACC Steering Committee
wrote:

The NACC believes this slump [drop of
460,00 members] is largely attributable to the UCC establishment’s having been
out of touch with the general membership for decades, often making decisions
those in the pews find highly objectionable.
What it implies for those in political life should be obvious…We are an
exhausted, depleted church. Those who
still have the energy to care, once again find themselves divided in
controversy.[iv]

Rational
politicians (irony acknowledged!), who read Geoff Wilkins letter, would ask
themselves, if it has been so bad for so long, why do these people stay
on? The question begging a reply, “What
heresy would it take to convince NACC congregations to separate from their
denomination?” Moreover, what
unorthodoxy has the NACC prevented? On
22 March 2005, in response to my plea to separate from the UCC: “Your voice of protest is needed more now
then ever,” and thereby publicly support the struggle against marriage
redefinition, the NACC Chairman replied:

Thank you for your email, but you
should understand that the NACC believes that speaking from within the United
Church, uncomfortable as that may be, is more effective than from outside. UCC organizational mechanisms guarantee
that, as part of the UCC, our voice must be heard. I might add that one of our supports and guides through all of
this particular 20-year battle (there are others) is the Book of Job. We believe the Job story speaks with
intimacy and power to our particular Nineveh situation,[v] and my
personal hope is that we will only stop doing so, and leave, when (and if) the
Lord clearly tells us to, …and not before.

What
would constitute such a message? What
would it take to recognize it? Obviously hundreds of thousands have received
the burden to escape, why not the NACC? Frankly, the overriding premise of the NACC is to remain within the UCC. One is reminded of
three sailors abroad a vessel which has lost its power in choppy waters flowing
inevitably towards Niagara Falls. They
loved their boat which they had painstakingly built over many years. All prayed for God to deliver them (and
their boat) from disaster. First, a
small tourist boat came by and offered to take them to safety. But they refused the help saying no thanks
God will rescue us and the boat. They
prayed and prayed for power to turn the boat around. A little later a merchant vessel came by and offered to take them
onboard. Although much weaker from the
stress and in far greater peril, they still refused to get off their boat. They kept praying for power to turn around
and overcome the current. A third
opportunity came in the form of a rescue helicopter. A rescue specialist dropped down to attach them to a pulley. Although completely exhausted with their
boat about to go over the falls they once again rejected the help holding on to
their prayer. There have been so many
missed turning points to see the light,
to be called out of the UCC
apostasy. Twenty years of the status quo witness has not produced the
desired result. When the NACC says, “We will leave the United Church when God calls us and
not before!” they need to reassess reality and consider their motives behind remaining in the boat. Hundreds of thousands have had the spiritual
burden to leave before the “falls.”
Were they wrong?